After a few months and a couple thousand miles with my Bilstein B4 dampers, I decided I was still not happy with the car’s general floaty/wallowyness. Though the ride quality from them was excellent, my car still had numb steering and lots of body roll, and on the motorway the wind blew it all over the place, with it being a hatch with the 1.4 engine and 205 width tyres. I decided it was time to put some lowering springs on it as well. I was an idiot and should have done this at the same time as the dampers, which would have saved me another £270 labour. Oh well. I did lots of research – people complaining about the Pro Kit being poorly matched with the Bilstein B4’s, people getting a bouncy ride, a crashy ride, problems over speed bumps etc. It was hard to find a good review of them outside of these forums where people praised the combination. Bilstein state that you can pair lowering springs with B4’s, and Eibach state that their springs can be used with any shocks in good condition.

 

When I sat back in my car after having them fitted, the first thing I noticed was how much lower the car felt. I’ve not measured the arch gaps, but it states that the car drops around 30mm at the front and 35mm at the back. I think the back has dropped more than the front as it no longer has the bum in the air look about it. I then had to drive down a single track lane filled with nasty ruts, bumps and potholes – I noticed immediately how much less crashy the car was over these bumps. It felt firmer, but soaked them up with ease and it no longer made any cracking or knocking sounds come into the cabin.

After driving at 5-10mph down the lane, I turned out onto a 30mph road. The change in steering and stability was immediately apparent. The steering felt firmer around the centre, it felt like I wasn’t going as fast as before, and the feeling of composure and stability was great. Again, the way the car soaked up bumps vs before was significant – the usual drains and small ripples that it was previously rubbish at dealing with were basically gone.

 

Now onto national speed limit roads and motorways – this is where the difference is very noticeable. Strong winds affect the car much less, there is a good amount of steering feel at high speed and it feels extremely solid and stable. The ride quality at higher speeds is amazing – it feels so smooth particularly as little bumps no longer make the car jiggle around. At 70mph, it feels like I am barely moving.

 

For more spirited driving – the harder you push the car around a corner, the more steering feel you get. When going quickly around a bend, the body remains very flat and the steering sharpens up. It’s just on the initial turn in where there is less feel and some body roll. The progressive nature of the springs becomes very clear under this kind of driving.

 

In summary, I really wish I’d had these fitted at the same time as the dampers. I think it made even more significant an impact than the shocks did. I can’t really think of a reason as to why anyone shouldn’t buy them. It cost me a £13 admin fee to get the change made on my insurance, plus £35 for alignment after a week/100 miles – definitely do this as it’s made the steering feel even better.

 

Pros

-          Looks fantastic

-          Brakes feel more effective due to less forward lean

-          Much less nose lift under acceleration

-          Far less body roll

-          Ride quality significantly better, particularly over rippled surfaces and drains

-          More stable and planted feel – it feels like driving a bigger car such as a Passat

-          Ride isn’t jiggly anymore

Cons

-          The car still feels quite soft and there is some body roll in corners – only a con if you want the car to have a set up that always feels firm

-          Less ground clearance – the mud flaps underneath the front bumper may scrape on things

-          Steering still feels a bit numb and artificial – that’s just how VAG cars seem to be

-          “Normal” steering mode is still far too light and twitchy

-          The suspension feels stiffer which makes big bumps more noticeable (by a pretty negligible amount)

 

Before:

After (and needs a good clean)

It would be even better on b6/ b8 shocks